February 14, 2013

A cleansed Dooley ready for a new start after firing by Tennessee

Newly hired Cowboys receivers coach Derek Dooley doesn't shy
from the fact that he was rocked by his firing as head coach at Tennessee last fall.

He is grateful for the opportunity to get back into coaching with the Cowboys but he said he needed to cleanse from
the tough ending to his time at Tennessee
and actually turned down other opportunities.

"I felt that I couldn’t do a good job to whoever
I went until I got cleansed, so to speak," Dooley said. "You’ve got
so many emotions when things like that happen, from disappointment to anger to
frustration to blame. It’s important to really cleanse all that out and start
looking forward.

"I felt like the first thing I needed to do was get right,
get myself right. Really the month of December, that’s what I was doing.
In January, I wasn’t really looking for anything.

"Quite frankly, this
opportunity was one that really excited me and I couldn’t turn down, because
not only the amount of respect I have in Coach Garrett, but also it’s the
Dallas Cowboys, and I’ve got a great amount of respect for the Jones family and
belief in what they’re doing, and I was just real excited to be a part of it.”